Marc Estes

I found myself crawling out of bed early this morning (thanks to the 4:45am wake up call of the birds outside my window) with an urge to take a long walk. This isn’t a usual practice for me, so I knew there was something beyond my own desires to remain buff driving the thought. I put on my brand new Nike’s (sorry for the endorsement), and strolled out into the beautiful sunrise. It was about 65 degrees, partly cloudy, mild breeze, smell of flowers, birds singing…no noise, no cell phone, no emails, no appointments and absolutely no pressure!

 

The Lord’s quiet voice came in a subtle way and reminded me of the words of David in Psalm 39, “…remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is fleeing away. My life is no longer than the width of my hand. An entire lifetime is just a moment to you; human existence is but a breath. We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth for someone else to spend. And so Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you.”

 

In His own gentle way he asked me the question that I already knew the answer, “What will you do today that will be of eternal value?” I didn’t want to respond, because it meant changing my schedule and mindset around to insure that I didn’t waste a minute of the precious time He was alloting me today. However, I gave in, He won and I am glad He did. Life just seems to always come at us so quick and if we aren’t careful, we can get entrenched in the proverbial rat race that produces nothing but stess, fatigue and temporal pleasures.

 

How about you? What have you done today of eternal significance? Your life, like mine is but a breath. Our time is brief and our days are numbered. Part of your days is already spent and its too late to change, but you can change the rest of your day. Stop… pause… take a deep breath… close your eyes… and pray a daring prayer right now, “Lord, what do you want me to do today?” You may not like the answer, but I guarantee you will love the results.